Page 99 - Mind Games The Aging Brain and How to Keep it Healthy

Develop a Brawny Brain • 83

When we were young, we preferred to use one hand
more often than the other. Over time, we became skilled
with that hand and rarely used the other hand except for
balance or coordination with our dominant hand. We can
perform gross motor skills with the other hand, such as
opening a door or petting an animal. Without thinking about
it, we simply use our dominant hand. Some people who
have lost function in their dominant hand find that, with
practice, they can become facile with their less-dominant
hand. Their handwriting may never be as clear with the new
hand, but it can be understood.
So it is with our preferred learning styles. Early on, we all
found the best way for us to learn and, without thinking
about it, applied that style to every situation. In Chapter 1,
you learned what your dominant learning preference is,
while in Chapter 2, you evaluated your natural intelligences.
In this chapter you will explore supplementary ways to
learn and how to develop your less-dominant learning
styles and increase your use of the other intelligences. This
information will provide you with a wide spectrum of fresh
tricks to use when trying to learn something new!
You can assess your current information-processing skills
before reading this chapter by taking the preassessment that
follows. Then, after reading about how to learn more efficiently
and practicing your new skills, you may reassess your process-
ing ability with the postassessment at the end of this chapter.

INFORMATION-PROCESSING
PREASSESSMENT
Directions: Read the following paragraphs. Then answer 10
questions about the information regarding Figure 4-2.
Suppose you are going to run some errands. You should
drive to these places, because some have drive-in windows
and you will have much to carry. You need to take six shirts
and a suit to the cleaners, pick up shoes at the shoe repair,
and get two birthday cards at the drugstore where you have
to pick up a prescription.